Wear Red for Women donates AEDs to two Sedalia churches

Members of Wear Red for Women, a Bothwell Foundation committee, recently gave an automated external defibrillator (AED) to LifePointe Church and Broadway Presbyterian Church in Sedalia. An AED is a small, lightweight device that allows individuals and first responders to treat sudden cardiac arrest. The machine automatically analyzes the heart rhythm and when appropriate, it delivers an electrical shock to the heart to restore its normal rhythm.

According to an American Heart Association study, survival from cardiac arrest doubled when bystanders stepped in to use a publicly available automated external defibrillator rather than wait until emergency responders arrived.

Funds to purchase the device were raised during the 2023 Wear Red for Women luncheon and auction. The committee’s goal is to have AEDs in every place people work, learn, play or pray in Sedalia and Pettis County. Since the inception of the luncheon event in 2020, 72 AEDs have been placed in or committed to various locations. The 2024 Wear Red for Women event is Feb. 23, 2024, and tickets will be available in January.

LifePointe Church received an automatic external defibrillator; from left, Nikki Howell and Rhonda Ahern, committee members; Lori Wightman, Bothwell CEO and committee co-chair; Rusty Thomas, LifePointe Church lead pastor; Jeff Brandt, Lifepointe Church executive pastor; Lauren Thiel-Payne, Bothwell Foundation executive director; Susan Mergen, committee member; Dianne Simon, Thompson Hills Investment Corporation vice president and committee co-chair; and Debra Andresen and Robin Balke, committee members.

Broadway Presbyterian Church received an automatic external defibrillator; from left, Lucy Lemke Clark, church member; Erica Petersen and Trish Henson, committee members; Lauren Thiel-Payne, Bothwell Foundation executive director; Joyce Taylor, Betsy Wiley, Mike Howard, Jim Taylor and Sandy Terrell, church members; and Robin Balke, committee member.